r to herself nor to her
unfortunate father.

During this time the house still went on. Set a business going, and
it is astonishing how long it will continue to move by the force of
mere daily routine. People flocked in for shirts and stockings, and
young women came there to seek their gloves and ribbons, although but
little was done to attract them, either in the way of advertisement
or of excellence of supply. Throughout this wretched month or two
Robinson knew that failure was inevitable, and with this knowledge it
was almost impossible that he should actively engage himself in his
own peculiar branch of business. There was no confidence between the
partners. Jones was conscious of what was coming and was more eager
than ever to feather his own nest. But in these days Mr. Brown
displayed a terrible activity. He was constantly in the shop, and
though it was evident to all eyes that care and sorrow were heaping
upon his shoulders a burden which he could hardly bear, he watched
his son-in-law with the eyes of an Argus. It was terrible to see him,
and terrible, alas, to hear him;--for at this time he had no reserve
before the men and women engaged behind the counters. At first there
had been a pretence of great love and confidence, but this was now
all over. It was known to all the staff that Mr. Brown watched his
son-in-law, and known also that the youngest partner had been treated
with injustice by them both.

They in the shop, and even Jones himself, knew little of what in
these days was going on upstairs. But Robinson knew, for his room
was close to that in which Mr. Brown and his daughter lived; and,
moreover, in spite of the ill-feeling which could not but exist
between him and Miss Brown, he passed many hours in that room with
her father. The bitterness of gall had now risen within her breast,
and she had begun to realize that truth which must be so terrible for
a woman, that she had fallen to the ground between two stools. It is
a truth terrible to a woman. There is no position in a man's life of
the same aspect. A man may fail in business, and feel that no further
chance of any real success can ever come in his way; or he may fail
in love, and in the soreness of his heart may know that the pleasant
rippling waters of that fountain are for him dried for ever. But with
a woman the two things are joined together. Her battle must be fought
all in one. Her success in life and her romance must go together,
hand in h